The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
china will soon have to import foodgrain to meet the demand of its growing population. For the past 20 years, grain production in China has averaged 98.6 per cent of the demand, mainly due to its traditional policy of self-sufficiency. But this has come at a high financial and environmental …
this is the belief of Georges Brossard who is on a mission to make insects an integral part of our lives. In future, the human race will have to look for alternative sources of food, like insects, to sustain itself, he says. Brossard, who is the founder-director of Insectarium de …
as a twelve-year-old, Gurdev Singh Hira, now a senior soil physicist at the Punjab Agricultural University ( pau ) in Ludhiana, saw the water in his well rise so fast that he could touch it with his hands. But as he grew up the water level went down to such …
Can foodgrain production in India be increased further? I see no reason why foodgrain production in the country cannot be increased. To think that only Punjab represents the entire country, is wrong. In many areas foodgrain production can be increased by using increased inputs, like fertilisers. We tend to compare …
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth. In this case, the meek dosa and the meek samosa may hold the key to the future of food security in the world. It is, therefore, time to dislodge the burger and make it give way to its humble cousins
Only 2.5 per cent of all the world's water is fresh, that is, fit for human consumption, agriculture and industry. However, in several parts of the world, water is being used at a much faster rate than can be replenished by rainfall. The United Nations warns that the shortage of …
As the world gears up to face the challenges of the new millenium, India's growing population threatens to break all records and touch the one-billion mark. At this juncture one worrying question before us is whether we will be able to feed our masses. The answer lies in maintaining the …
More and more people are taking sides. Some are for genetically modified organisms and some are against them. Eminent people and organisations, Prince Charles of England, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (fao) of the United Nations, the Church have all advised restraint. Altered food may be good they say, but …
Cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops is increasingly becoming popular. Supporters of biotechnology feel that GM crops are the answer to the problem of food security and will curb the excessive use of harmful chemical pesticides. Critics argue that GM crops could wreak havoc with the environment. They warn that …
A series of ingenious selective breeding experiments carried out over the millennia by generations of unknown farmers in the Indian subcontinent have enormously expanded the genetic diversity of the Indian rice, Oryza sativa var. indica. This diversity is embodied in thousands of varieties of rice, also called landraces.As a result, …
Scientists at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Manila, have developed a new strain of rice, which they claim has more iron and gives more yield per hectare, taking less land and time to grow. Called "super rice', it may hopefully belie the grim predictions of famine that half the …
GLOBAL food security and how to meet the food demands of the burgeoning population in the next century is an issue facing agriculturists the world over. Food requirement projections for 2025 are alarming. Unless current agricultural techniques are modified and improved upon, it may be a Herculean task to meet …
For growing economies the stress has to be on patterns of natural resource use and not on the status of natural resources; that is, dealing with the causes rather than the symptoms of the problem of climate change. The time has come for rapidly growing Asia to distinguish between the …
Small changes in urban human behavior and increased energy efficiency will have a positive impact on our natural resources. Mukul Sanwal[1] The recently released report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) established by the United Nations, “Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability,” details the impact of climate …
The training has been conceived for development practitioners involved in design, implementation, management, monitoring and backstopping of projects and programs with a focus on food and nutrition security. The training shall capacitate staff of development organizations to make good use of the opportunities offered by the national policy makers and …
The course is designed to provide a general understanding on emerging issues, challenges and opportunities with regards to global, regional, national, community and household food security issues and impacts. The course focuses on the four dimensions of food security namely: availability, access, utilization and stability. Participants are to critically analyze …
International Conference on Climate Change Innovation and Resilience for Sustainable Livelihood is being held in Kathmandu, Nepal from 12-14 January 2015. The conference is a joint effort of The Small Earth Nepal, City University of New York, Colorado State University, Department of Hydrology and Meteorology/Government of Nepal, Department of Livestock …
The International Conference on Plants & Environmental Pollution, organized by the CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology will take place from 3rd December to the 6th December 2014 in Lucknow, India. The conference will cover areas like Bio indication & Bioremediation, Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, Environmental Impact Assessment, Eco …
Arab countries have been pursuing a target of higher food self-sufficiency rate, but achieving this goal remained beyond reach. While they have limited cultivable land and scarce water resources, they did not use their agricultural endowments in an effective and efficient manner. Lack of appropriate agricultural policies and practices led …
Food security is at risk from new sources of instability. As the food system becomes increasingly globalized, disruptions reverberate faster and more widely than ever before.This conference will focus on strategic food security issues and map the geopolitical, supply-side and market-based threats to the global food system.Senior policy-makers and business …
